PETA RIPS OFF CATHOLIC ICONOGRAPHY

Catalyst January/February Issue 2004

In December, on a billboard in Providence, Rhode Island, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) featured a portrait of the Virgin Mary holding a dead chicken. Next to this was the inscription, “GO VEGETARIAN: It’s an Immaculate Conception” (a cross was placed inside the letter O, thus resembling the Celtic cross).

We took issue with the poster and let the media know it:

“Just recently, PETA outraged the Anti-Defamation League for trivializing the Holocaust. Now it’s incurred the wrath of the Catholic League by trivializing the Immaculate Conception. This suggests an inability to get its message across without exploiting others. What makes this particularly telling is PETA’s opposition to the exploitation of animals. Maybe if PETA were to think of Jews and Catholics as if they were jaguars and cats, its bigotry would end.”